They have been called lazy, listless slackers who care more about themselves than the world around them. They have been labeled unfocused, confused and uncommitted. And they have been tarnished as self-absorbed whiners who do not bother with politics, social issues or the environment.
But three poster children of Generation X smashed those stereotypes Tuesday–and helped set an example for their peers in and out of the music business–when they staged a huge benefit concert at the New World Music Theatre in southwest suburban Tinley Park.
The Smashing Pumpkins–arguably the biggest rock band Chicago has ever produced and one of the top-selling bands in the world–held a charity show that was expected to raise more than $500,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Northern Illinois. It was the culmination of a winding road that saw the venue changed from Grant Park to Soldier Field to the New World, a logistical twist that did not seem to deflate the excitement of the long-awaited event.
The scene was a panorama of mostly below-25 fans in tube tops, bell-bottoms and glitter eye shadow, including many teens forced to bring parents to get a ride. It was the Gen X equivalent of Baby Boomers at a Rolling Stones concert or gray-haired fans cheering Tony Bennett.
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But the philanthropical theme was what really set the concert apart.
“As a band, we’ve achieved our wildest dreams,” said Smashing Pumpkins singer and guitarist Billy Corgan, referring to himself, guitarist James Iha and bassist D’Arcy Wretzky. “What’s important now is putting our values ahead of our pockets.
“There’s a common feeling that the world is falling apart, and we’re one of the bands of our generation accused of playing into that nihilism.”
Corgan, a native of Glendale Heights, said before the show at the Make-A-Wish headquarters on the North Side, “I’m sick of being accused of feeding into that. . . . I’m 31 now and James and D’Arcy have turned 30 and it’s time for us to take responsibility for our generation and subsequent generations. It’s time for the Generation X people as we enter our 30s to start throwing our weight around in a positive way.”
Those sentiments reverberated with the mostly twentysomething crowd gathered at the New World.
“Our parents think we don’t care about anybody but ourselves, but that’s not true. We care about a lot of things and we want to do things to make the world better,” said Heather Cook, a 16-year-old from McHenry County who volunteers at a soup kitchen. “Maybe we just do it differently than our parents did, but that doesn’t mean we don’t care.”
Cook, dressed in bell-bottom jeans and besprinkled with glitter makeup, hopes the performance will send a message to Baby Boomers, who she says have all but given up on her generation. “Maybe they’ll understand that we’re not as bad as they think,” she said.
The Make-A-Wish contribution is part of $2.3 million the Smashing Pumpkins will raise for local charities on its summer tour of 14 North American cities. In the process, the band expects to lose at least $1 million, Corgan said.
The series of charity shows is an unprecedented move for a band of the Pumpkins’ stature. The band has the respect of critics and the adoration of a huge fan base, becoming the most commercially successful rock act to emerge in the ’90s and the biggest band out of Chicago since the late ’70s heyday of Styx. The Pumpkins’ four studio albums, including the recent “Adore,” have sold millions, and the 1995 release, “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness,” is among the best-selling double-CDs.
The Pumpkins’ biggest appeal is to Gen Xers–the roughly 40 million people born from 1965 to 1979. Since Xer Douglas Coupland introduced the label with the 1991 novel “Generation X,” the group has been categorized as dispirited malcontents. The top-selling Gen X bands have been Nirvana, Pearl Jam and the Pumpkins, bands that express the age group’s discontent.
But those who inhabit the era say they are too easily stereotyped.
“We are not who you think we are,” said Richard Thau, executive director of Third Millennium, a sort of Gen X think tank based in New York City. “Generation Xers have spent the better part of a decade being lambasted by the press and the Boomers about being lazy and spoiled. We are no more selfish than other generations. In truth, Generation Xers are volunteering in record numbers.”
Robert O’Connor, director of research services for United Way of America, said a December 1997 survey showed that Gen Xers are in favor of making charitable donations. About 85 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds, and 76 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds express favorable sentiments toward donating money to United Way, he said.
“Those numbers are as high or higher than any of the other age groups, which are averaging around 60 percent,” O’Connor said. “We have found that Gen Xers are more favorable to United Way than any other age group and are less likely to be cynical or skeptical about charitable organizations; but, indeed, they are less likely to be asked.”
Frankie Giagkou, a 23-year-old fan, scoffs at suggestions that her generation is any more tuned out than her parents’.
“What was the ’60s and free love all about if not self-absorption?” asked Giagkou of Chicago, who volunteers at a shelter for the homeless. “Yeah, we’re slackers, sometimes. But so were our parents and their parents before them. They just don’t remember it that way.”
For the Smashing Pumpkins, the journey to the New World stage was as bumpy as the band’s rise to international prominence.
The show Tuesday at the New World Music Theater in Tinley Park was hastily arranged after negotiations broke down with Chicago over playing a free show at Grant Park. The concert was switched a few weeks ago to a charity event at 55,000-seat Soldier Field; when it failed to sell out, the venue was changed to the 30,000-capacity New World amphitheater.
The venue changes may have inconvenienced fans, who were required to show up Tuesday afternoon at the New World to exchange their Soldier Field tickets. But in the spirit of the event most did not seem to mind.
“I’d travel a million miles. I love them more than life itself,” Valerie Falesch, 16, of McHenry County, said.
“I’d have camped out two nights in a row to get a good seat,” said Samantha Hulett, 17, of Carol Stream.
Parents, on the other hand, were not so enthusiastic about the early arrival.
“I can think of a lot of places I’d rather be right now,” said Mary Sherman, of Gary, Ind., who brought her 16-year-old son and his girlfriend to the concert. “But, since the money is going to charity, I’m more willing to suffer through a long wait.”
In the end, the big winner was Make-A-Wish, a charity that tries to fulfill the favorite wishes of ailing children ages 2 to 18.
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“This is the most amazing thing that has been done for us,” said Linda Parck, spokeswoman for the foundation.
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ON THE INTERNET:
For an interview with Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan go to
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